Russian Supporters of Liberty Protest the Russian Presidential Elections

The Russian presidential elections took place this weekend, but they were not free and fair amidst an intolerance of freedom of expression and of any significant competition. Ex-Soviet intelligence officer Vladimir Putin, who has ruled Russia tyrannically since 1999, either as president or prime minister, is assured of another six-year term, after constitutional changes he proposed ended term limits. The Kremlin-controlled Russian electoral commission, which had barred two serious opposition candidates from standing for president, will count the votes and, as they have a history of doing, will ensure that the totals only show a large win for Putin, with only a token opposition to provide a false sense of democratic legitimacy. Ballot stuffing and multiple voting are two methods the regime uses to ensure itself a large vote total. A victory for Putin has thus been pre-arranged, with the result not the significance of the election, but only the propaganda value of a large margin of victory. Only parties and candidates that do no criticize Putin are allowed to stand for office or get elected. But the liberal opposition took advantage of the opportunity to stage a brilliant form of protest that could not subject them to arrest, unlike any other peaceful protest. Different factions of the opposition offered various suggestions for demonstrating their disapproval of Putin, either by boycotting the election or by showing up to vote at the same time today, which thousands of Russians did across the Russian Federation and also at Russian diplomatic missions abroad where Russian citizens could vote. The protestors opted to spoil their ballots by voting for more than one candidate, or writing in the name of late Russian liberal leader Alexei Navalny or anti-Putin or anti-war slogans, or voting for one of the three Kremlin-tolerated opposition candidates. There were also numerous incidents of vandalism of polling stations. Navalny had approved the plan before the opposition leader was killed by the Putin regime in an arctic prison last month on political charges. But the Putin regime could not hide the long voting lines today and the photographs Russian voters took of their spoiled ballots. The protest was also intended to reassure Russians, despite the repression of dissent that has fragmentated the opposition, with many opponents in prison or exile, that they are not alone in their desire for liberty and representative government.